EFI Software Update List

The Macintosh software here has been compressed using StuffIt software into a self-extracting archive, with file suffix .sea. It then was "binhexed" for transport over the internet, which added the suffix .hqx. So that is why the downloaded files referenced above above have names like Fiery XJ Utilities.sea.hqx.

Once you have downloaded a file to your computer (by just clicking on its name), you will need to undo these binhex and compression steps. A well-configured browser can do this automatically.

For example, if you have the StuffIt or StuffIt Expander application, they will do both steps for you. Make sure your browser is set up to launch StuffIt when it sees an incoming .hqx file. For example, in the Netscape browser, go to the Source menu and select the Preferences item. In the Preferences dialog, choose Helper Applications. You should have an entry for file extension .hqx. If not, add one. It should have the following characteristics:

mimetype: application
subtype: mac-binhex40
extension: hqx
application: StuffIt Expander (or whatever version of StuffIt you use)
action: launch application

If you do not have a copy of Stuffit Expander, you can get it (and some other utilities mentioned below) from the Software Hyperarchive, just enter the name of the program you are looking for, like "Stuffit". You can give the whole process a try by downloading this very small file (26 Kb) and seeing whether it gets successfully uncompressed. On your desktop, you should get a Teachtext file that contains the text "You made it!". Once you have that file on your disk, you can delete the .hqx and .sea files - they are no longer needed.

There are other ways too, but they are more manual. You can use the BinHQX application or Compact Pro to undo the binhexing step. You are then left with a self-extracting archive file or .sea which you can simply double-click in the Macintosh Finder to decompress into the original files.

And yes, we all hope this is going to get easier in time.